The great, good and not so good bits about growing your own dinner 2017

unrecordings · 11 June 2017 at 8:10PM

My (greenhouse) tomatoes are just starting to set. I was going to pick garlic scapes today, when I realised that the 'garlic' was actually radar onions. So after a quick google, they're coming off tomorrow and going in the lasagna. No sign of scapes on the actual hardneck garlic though.

MissPop · 13 June 2017 at 1:52PM

Has anyone got any tips for keeping aphids off my salads? I've got a glut of spinach and cut and come again lettuce because every time I want to use them, I have to spend ages washing them and checking every leaf for the little @!?%$s! It's putting me right off :mad:

Fruittea · 13 June 2017 at 2:23PM

Hi MissPop Aphids are a real problem and I'm also suffering from red mite in the greenhouse and lots of blackfly on the broadbeans and the artichokes. I've mixed up a batch of neem oil and given them a spray. I'll spray them again in 5 days and see how they go.

I also drop the lettuce in a bowl of salty water as soon as I get them home - that seems to get rid of them. Nothing worse than opening the fridge and finding the little blighters.

Growingwise things are doing very well. And I've only had to buy peppers and mushrooms this week. The tomatoes are all flowering and I've got lots of little cucumbers and the peas are lovely - had a whole cooked portion last night - also seeing some fruit setting on the squashes.
I've grown a brassica called Brokali this and can highly recommend it. It's a cross between broccali and kale and it's very tender and sweet. Will grow again.

I've also re-sown the orientals and some French beans for succession. Just a question of keeping it going now.

MissPop · 13 June 2017 at 2:33PM

Fruittea wrote: »

Hi MissPop Aphids are a real problem and I'm also suffering from red mite in the greenhouse and lots of blackfly on the broadbeans and the artichokes. I've mixed up a batch of neem oil and given them a spray. I'll spray them again in 5 days and see how they go.

I also drop the lettuce in a bowl of salty water as soon as I get them home - that seems to get rid of them. Nothing worse than opening the fridge and finding the little blighters.

Growingwise things are doing very well. And I've only had to buy peppers and mushrooms this week. The tomatoes are all flowering and I've got lots of little cucumbers and the peas are lovely - had a whole cooked portion last night - also seeing some fruit setting on the squashes.
I've grown a brassica called Brokali this and can highly recommend it. It's a cross between broccali and kale and it's very tender and sweet. Will grow again.

I've also re-sown the orientals and some French beans for succession. Just a question of keeping it going now.

Ooh, I'd forgotten about neem oil, I'll have to give it a go! And I'd never heard of using salt water - sounds intriguing

Thanks for the tips

smeeinnit · 14 June 2017 at 10:23PM

Salt water is also great for evicting any bugs on soft fruit :j

MissPop · 14 June 2017 at 11:00PM

smeeinnit wrote: »

Salt water is also great for evicting any bugs on soft fruit :j

That's awesome - I think anything with a passenger is getting a salt water bath before it goes in my kitchen :rotfl:

Jojo_the_Tightfisted · 15 June 2017 at 8:25PM

MissPop wrote: »

That's awesome - I think anything with a passenger is getting a salt water bath before it goes in my kitchen :rotfl:

Judging by the three massive ginger slugs the Idiot Cat came in with attached to his coat last night (so the git's been thundering around the veggies again :mad:), maybe this should apply to anybody, as well as anything....

MissPop · 15 June 2017 at 10:51PM

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Judging by the three massive ginger slugs the Idiot Cat came in with attached to his coat last night (so the git's been thundering around the veggies again :mad:), maybe this should apply to anybody, as well as anything....

Hurrrgggghh! :eek: (I do love the sound of your Idiot Cat though :rotfl: )

I tried the salt water trick earlier and it worked a treat - I picked some lettuce and spinach for a BBQ salad and my (very non-greenfingered) sister was so impressed I'd grown it all!

I'm going to treat myself to a salad spinner tomorrow :rotfl:

Fruittea · 16 June 2017 at 8:58AM

Morning Every
The slugs are out in force aren't they. I always have problems but try to get around the worst of it by planting plenty of cheap lettuces around anything I want to protect and use them as a sacrifice. I also save all egg shells and bake them ( just leave them in the oven for 10 minutes when I'm cooking something else) then break them into tiny pieces and pile them up around plants. Seems to work quite well.

MissPop I have this salad spinner: https://www.amazon.co.uk/OXO-Good-Grips-Salad-Spinner/dp/B009KCFHAW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497598752&sr=8-1&keywords=oxo+salad+spinner

It's massive with a 26cm diameter but it has a really strong basket so you can collect veg in it and rinse it of and then fill the outer bowl for a salt soak and then drain and rinse the lot. It does take up a big space in the kitchen though.

Plenty of veg for me at the mo so I have only bought in tomatoes this week. I see the first toms on the plants in the greenhouse - so it wont be long until I have those to.

I'm really enjoying the artichokes - feeling quite posh having them for lunch as a starter. The gooseberries are just starting to ripen - I had some early ones yesterday - cooked for two minutes in the microwave with some sugar sprinkled over them and then mixed into some creme fresh. Really lovely!
Happy growing.

tootallulah · 16 June 2017 at 2:35PM

Major score in Waitrose this morning, peas in lovely cane wigwam baskets previously £8 down to 99p I bought 4 pots with peas in them and two wigwam baskets that were empty (49 p). Bought them home gave the peas a good water and put Black-eye Susans in the other two- job's a good un!

I picked my first raspberries today plus plenty of strawberries and redcurrants.

The great, good and not so good bits about growing your own dinner 2017

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